Baptist convention sees fewer protests

But at the last few annual meetings protests grown more subdued as Southern Baptists, the nation’s second largest Christian faith, have shifted focus from politics to more spiritual issues — this year, most notably, dissolving an 8-year boycott of the Walt Disney Co. for policies deemed too antifamily.

“I’ve not seen a protester this year. In St. Louis, we had a very vocal, mean bunch,” said Terry Braswell, a pastor from Jewell, Ga., who’s been coming to the convention with his father since he was a child.

At the St. Louis convention in 2002, 50 protesters were arrested for trying to disrupt the outgoing Southern Baptist president’s keynote speech.

At the 2001 convention in New Orleans, conflict erupted outside the Louisiana Superdome by gay rights group Soulforce, which tried to enter the arena with the symbolic casket. About 30 protesters were arrested without incident and released. The group also protested at this year’s convention.

Nashville police, however, said no one was arrested, nor were any disturbances reported.

“I think it’s been pretty calm both inside and outside the conventions,” said Richard Land, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the SBC’s public policy arm. “Critics have come to the conclusion Southern Baptists are going in the direction they want to go. They’re not going to have much success in seeking to change our minds.”

James Byrd, assistant dean of Vanderbilt University’s Divinity School, said that with the number of baptisms in the faith down in recent years, SBC leaders have tried to shift focus from political issues to spiritual ones.

“There’s a sense that they need to get back to basics,” Byrd said. “They’re facing what they perceive as a decline in zeal in terms of evangelism. There’s a perception in the convention that maybe the social issues are outweighing the evangelism. The spiritualism issues are taking a back seat to the political.”

SBC members have, indeed, softened their stance on some hot-button social issues. Last year, the convention rejected a proposal that urged parents to pull their children out of public schools deemed too gay-tolerant. And this year, it passed a toned-down resolution, which did not order parents to vacate public schools but did encourage them to look into whether schools are too accepting of homosexuality.

The Disney boycott that ended this year began in 1997 and called for Southern Baptists to refrain from patronizing Disney theme parks and products, largely because of the entertainment company’s decision to give benefits to companions of gay employees.

Another resolution that riled critics in past years included the dictate that women should not be pastors and should “submit graciously” to their husbands.

Some convention attendees said they believe the latest meeting drew fewer protesters because the resolutions weren’t as controversial. The Nashville location, the city where the SBC executive committee is based and there are many Christian churches, also put the convention in friendly territory.

“There’s a large contingent of Southern Baptists here in Nashville already,” said W. Berry Norwood, an SBC pastor from Scottsdale, Ariz. “Another reason why it may be calmer than normal is these issues like the Marriage Act, the sanctity of life are also being debated nationally.”

Houston lawyer Bruce Shortt, one of the sponsors of the schools resolution, said he believes protesters have backed off not because of any perceived softening on issues by the Southern Baptists. Rather, he thinks, protesters have come to realize their actions don’t influence SBC decisions.

“I think they realize we’re a lost cause,” Shortt said. “That they’re not going to get a lot of traction with us.”